Defrosting Konoha
by High Summoner Sakura
Summary: Sakura has left Konoha, making it fall into a deep depression. Whilst she is getting stronger, a certain Uchiha comes back. Can Sakura melt the frigid Uchiha's heart and restore Konoha to it's former glory? My first SasuSaku story and my first one-shot.


A/N: Heya this is my first one-shot, yay! This is dedicated to XxMidnightMusicxX for her help with my other story, the cherry blossom reborn. I'm so happy to write this for her so I hope that she likes this story. This is not one of my favorite pairings but I have to say that this was fun for me to write.

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"Talking"

_'Thoughts'_

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Disclaimer: Why must I have to say this?! I do not own Naruto, ok?! I most likely never will *Sobs*.

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Enjoy my first one-shot!

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Sakura was walking down the hallway to her office for some well earned rest. She was the newly appointed head medic of Konoha hospital and had just finished a complicated heart surgery. She was exhausted for she still had to make her rounds after the surgery and, to top it all off; she just had to have the stubborn higher-than-thou Hyūga Neji.

She finally arrived at her office door. She reached for the doorknob but stopped to admire her name in gold plate, she still wasn't used to seeing that. She smiled in satisfaction and opened her door. She made a beeline for her desk and collapsed into her chair. She sighed in contempt and closed her eyes, she hadn't gotten a moments relaxation since she got appointed head medic, and that was a few months ago. She opened her eyes and groaned at the large amount of paper work on her desk. She randomly picked up a paper and looked at it.

_'Let's for the operation that I just wants a day off on with some more feudal lords. Being head medic is so exhausting. I haven't had a day off in at least, four months! And yet, I wouldn't choose any other job in the world.'_

She put the papers down on her desk and leaned forward onto her elbows, relishing the rare silence. Her eyes began to close as she drifted off to sleep. She cursed as she heard a knock on her door. She sat up and all her tiredness left her face.

"Come in."

The door opened and Izumo walked in. He glanced around Sakura's large airy office before his attention snapped to Sakura.

"The Hokage wants to see you Sakura-sama."

He said the nervousness obvious in his voice was obvious to Sakura. She smiled at him, trying to ease his nerves.

"Alright, thank you. Tell her I'll be there in a moment."

Izumo bowed and quickly exited the room. Sakura watched him exit and then looked out the window at the clouds floating so freely in the sky.

_'Now I know why Shikamaru looks at the sky so much. I'm so jealous of the; they're so carefree in the sky, not a worry in the world. Well, I should go to Tsunade-shishou's office.'_

Sakura stood up, preformed a set of hand seals and disappeared in a poof of smoke. She reappeared in front of the door to the Hokage's office. She was about to enter the office when she heard voices, specifically Naruto, Sai, Kakashi, and Tsunade. Sakura's curiosity got the best of her and she quickly ran to the window of the Hokage's office and listened in on their conversation.

"Hokage-sama, Sakura can't go on this mission."

Kakashi said. Tsunade scowled menacingly at him.

"And why not?"

Kakashi put his hands in front of him.

"She's not, how should I say this.."

"She's not strong enough for an S-class mission."

Sai said in his usual monotone. Tsunade unleashed her death glare on him, causing him to shrink back.

"You're calling the head medic of Konoha hospital, my apprentice, weak? She has surpassed me in medical skills and strength and she's getting close to passing me in beauty. She is head medic at the age of 16, an unheard of feat. How can you call her weak?"

"Yes she has grown Hokage-sama, but she has not grown enough. She can be much more use here than on this dangerous S-class mission with us. She is more of a hospital medic than a field medic, during battles we always have to protect her, she holds us back. She can't handle the pressure of healing in the battle field. Sure her strength is useful but it has its limits, she knows no ninjutsu and is thus, vulnerable."

Kakashi said, his hand covering Sai's mouth. Tsunade's glare, if possible, worsened.

"Sakura is a valuable part of your team, having a medic on your team increases the success rate of your mission by fifty percent. You're very lucky that a member of your team is a medic and I've kept her off other teams at your request. Yet now you tell me that you don't want her to come on this mission with you?!"

She said through gritted teeth. Sai pried Kakashi's hand off of his mouth.

"Yes but, this is an S-class mission. Ugly will be a hindrance in the battle field for, enemies tend to target the medic first. We would much rather prefer a more battle ready medic than a weak medic."

Tsunade continued to glare at both Sai and Kakashi and they seemed to lose their confidence and shrunk behind the chairs in front of her desk. She turned her attention to Naruto who, surprisingly, hadn't said a word during the whole conversation.

"And what do you think about this Naruto? You haven't said a word this entire time."

Sakura looked on at the scene in horror. After all the effort that she had put in to change, all the bloody knuckles and sleepless nights, they still thought that she was weak? She turned her hopeful eyes to Naruto, if anyone was going to defend her it was Naruto.

Naruto looked at the wall but didn't really see it, contemplating his answer. He brought his focus back to the Hokage when he made his decision.

"I agree with them Hokage."

_'What?!'_

"Sakura-chan has improved a lot since she was a Genin but I don't think that she has improved enough. I also think that her feelings will get in the way of this mission to retrieve Sasuke. She should stay behind and work in the hospital and you should assign us a more capable medic-nin."

Tsunade was furious at the male members of team 7.

_'How dare they think that Sakura is weak?! She's my apprentice goddamn it!'_

She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Alright then, I'll assign a different medic for this mission. Shizune will accompany you in Sakura's stead but let me warn you, she won't be happy with the reason she is replacing Sakura."

The men nodded and Tsunade dismissed them. Sakura stood in the tree, unmoving. She couldn't believe that even Naruto thought that she was weak. They didn't know how much she had improved; she had been unable to make it to training sessions for the last few months. She numbly walked thought the window and Tsunade started at her appearance.

"How much did you hear Sakura?"

Just one look at her tear-filled face told her the answer. She stood up and embraced Sakura in a sympathetic hug.

"It's ok Sakura; they're just dumb asses who don't know what they're talking about. I know that this hurts but you should teach those guys a lesson. Show them that you aren't weak; show them your fiery spirit!"

Sakura lifted her head and smiled.

"Thank you Tsunade-shishou but I need to ask you a favor."

"You want to leave Konoha for a while don't you?"

"How did you know?"

Tsunade smiled softly at her surrogate daughter.

"I did the same thing when Dan died."

Her eyes softened.

"Fine you can go but only for a few months. I don't want you to do the same thing that I did and stay away for years. Take this passport, it allows you to enter any country that we have a treaty with."

Sakura took the passport and hugged Tsunade.

"Thank you Tsunade-shishou. I need to recuperate from this."

Tsunade nodded her head, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Go, before I change my mind."

Sakura left her office, not before saying thank you again. Tsunade collapsed into her seat and cried a little before collecting herself.

"Shizune come here!"

The black haired lady came running in.

"What is it Tsunade-sama?"

"You're going to replace Sakura on the Sasuke retrieval mission and-"

"What, why?"

"The males of team 7 are being stupid; if you want the exact details ask them. Now, back to what I wanted to say earlier, Sakura has taken a leave of absence from Konoha for a few months to recuperate."

Shizune's eyes were filled with worry.

"Will she be ok?"

"Yes she will."

"How do you know?"

"Because, she's like me, but stronger."

"I hope so Tsunade-sama."

Sakura jumped from tree to tree, trying to put as much distance between her and Konoha as possible. She had stopped at her apartment for only a second to grab some clothes and other necessities and left the village. She stopped for a moment to consider where she was going to go.

_'I think I'll just hang at Suna for a while. That way I'm close enough to Konoha to help them but far enough away to satisfy me. Plus Temari has been bugging me to visit her since I haven't been there for a while.'_

Straightening up she pulled a hood from the cloak that she was wearing over her head to cover it from the sun. She jumped up to the branches and headed in the direction of Suna.

Team 7 was waiting at the gates when they saw the silhouette of Shizune approaching. She was glaring at them and stopped in front of them.

"What the hell did you say to Sakura-chan?"

They looked at her surprised that she knew it was their fault. She looked over them all, waiting impatiently for an answer.

"We thought that she didn't meet the requirements for this mission."

Sai stated in an uncaring voice. Shizune looked at them incredulously.

"So you all thought this then?"

They all nodded and Shizune put her head on her hand.

"No wonder she left then. If her closest friends thought that she was weak then what was the point of staying?"

"What are you talking about?"

Kakashi asked; a frown on his face. Shizune shook her head at them.

"Sakura has left the village for an undetermined amount of time due to your careless words."

Naruto stared at her in shock.

"What, why?!"

"Think about it. You work yourself to the bone and then you overhear your closest friends say that you are weak. They don't even think that you're good enough to tell right to your face, they say it behind your back. You have been watching them move forward and you want to prove yourself but you can't because they never give you the chance to. They're always protecting you from everything, never letting you do anything for yourself. How would you feel?"

Team 7 looked at the ground ashamed but Shizune didn't stop talking.

"You never let Sakura do anything herself, she worked so hard to get where she is today. All you see is the weak Genin that is long gone. I'm disappointed in all of you but especially you Naruto. Sakura considers you her most important friend; your opinion hurt her the most."

Naruto looked at Shizune, begging her for her forgiveness.

"Don't look at me for forgiveness; ask Sakura for it but you can't now. She's long gone by now and who knows how long she'll be gone for. Don't try to look for her either. Since she is the head medic of the hospital she has to be able to hide herself in the battlefield, I doubt that ANBU would be able to find her. Let's just hurry up and get this mission over with."

Kakashi nodded and jumped out the gate and into the forest. The rest of his team soon followed after him. Shizune shook her head and jumped after all of them.

A few days later

Sakura stopped in front of the familiar sand colored gates of Suna. Predictably the shinobi on guard stopped her.

"What is your business in Suna?"

The shinobi said, his eyes scanning over her petite form. Sakura reached up to her hood and pulled it off.

"My name is Haruno Sakura and I am going to take residence here for a few months. I have come here previously to train your medical nin. Here is my passport which should allow me to stay here."

She reached into her cloak and pulled out a passport, handing it to the shinobi. Once he handed it back she took a better look at him.

"Is your name Akira?"

The shinobi was immediately on edge.

" do you want to know?"

"I healed your broken arm when you were a Genin and were sparring with Hideki."

Sakura said, smiling at Akira. Recognition dawned on him and he immediately dropped his guard and returned Sakura's smile.

"I remember you; you're the one who gave me a lollipop after you healed me."

"Yup that would be me. What rank are you now, you're obviously higher than a Genin."

"I'm a Chûnin now, Hideki is also a Chûninand Hatsumi is a Chûnin."

"Wow, it's only been two years since I've seen you. I have a question."

A large shadow loomed over Sakura and Akira and they looked up. Sakura was overjoyed and nervous to see a giant fan descending to them. Temari got off her fan and walked up to Sakura who backed away from her.

"Sakura-chan, I didn't know that you were coming to Suna."

", Tsunade gave me this passport that allows me to come here whenever I want to so."

Temari held up her hand, silencing Sakura.

"That's nice but tell me why YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME THAT YOU WERE COMING?! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU FOR TWO YEARS!"

"Temari, I didn't really know that I was, well ok I did know that I was coming but-"

"Haruno Sakura, you better start running."

"Right well, see ya Akira. I hope I can talk to you soon."

Sakura said, already wheeling around and running away from a furious Temari. Temari seemed to wait for a second then pursued the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura looked back and was alarmed to see Temari closing the distance between them.

"Sakura!"

"AH!"

Temari jumped and landed on Sakura, engulfing her in a hug. Sakura struggled for a second before realizing that Temari wasn't mauling her.

"It's been so long since I've seen you Sakura-chan! What have you been doing these past years?"

Sakura couldn't talk and Temari got off of her. They started to walk in a random direction.

"Wait! We should go and see Gaara and Kankuro, they'd be thrilled to see you!"

Temari grabbed Sakura's hand and ran towards Gaara's office. Sakura put up no resistance and let herself be dragged wherever Temari pleased.

"Gaara and Kankuro, look who stopped by!"

Temari said, bursting into the office.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to burst into my office?"

Gaara said in an annoyed tone. Kankuro tried to look behind Temari to see who she had brought. Temari shrugged.

"Yeah yeah, who cares about that? Guess who stopped by?"

Kankuro rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess. A fan dealer?"

"I'm so glad that you think of me as a fan dealer Kankuro."

Sakura said, stepping out from behind Temari. Kankuro looked at her in surprise then his face broke out into a smile.

"Sakura, I haven't seen you in a while. What's up in your life?"

"'s something I would rather not talk 's up with you?"

Kankuro shook off is curiosity.

"Nothing much, Gaara's being a pessimist as usual."

Sakura laughed though it sounded a bit fake. Gaara looked at her, concerned.

"Where are you staying Sakura-chan?"

Temari asked.

"Oh, just some hotel somewhere."

Sakura said. Temari shook her head.

"Why don't you stay with us? There's plenty of room in his huge mansion."

Sakura began to shake her head no but Temari held her hand up.

"Don't even think about saying no. That was a rhetorical question."

Sakura shrugged.

"Alright then but, I'll help out somehow. How about I help out around the hospital?"

Gaara nodded his head.

"We just got some new medics that could use some new training. There is also some new poison that is going around that we could use your help with."

Sakura smiled.

"Alright that works for me then."

Temari walked to Gaara and Kankuro and grabbed them by the back of their collars.

"Alright, we're going to go and eat. Now."

She said, already dragging them towards the door. Gaara was scowling but let himself be dragged. Kankuro was smiling, seeming to have fun being dragged.

"I still have paperwork to do."

Gaara said. Temari scoffed.

"Paperwork shmaperwork. We're going to eat together with Sakura and we're going to eat now. I'm hungry now."

Gaara sighed and Temari dragged him and Kankuro to the dining room while Sakura followed them. Temari plopped Gaara and Kankuro in their seats and proceeded to the kitchen. Kankuro visibly paled.

"Oh god, don't tell me that she's going to try and cook again."

Sakura looked at him curiously.

"What's the matter with her trying to cook?"

Kankuro shivered.

"The last time that she tried to cook, she made the kitchen explode while trying to boil pasta."

Sakura looked worried at Kankuro's last statement and stood up.

"I think I'm going to go and help her in the kitchen."

She walked into the kitchen. Many bangs were heard and the guys were getting worried. Right when they were going to go into the kitchen and help them both women stepped out of the kitchen. Gaara breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, what did you two end up making?"

Kankuro asked, curiosity in his voice. Temari smiled.

"Beef udon!"

She declared, obviously proud of herself. Kankuro sweatdropped.

"All that noise was for some udon? What is this, poisoned or something?"

Temari glared at him.

"This is actually quite good, thank you very much. Why don't you try some yourself?"

Kankuro hesitantly served himself some of the soup and tentatively sipped the soup.

"This is actually decent! It's actually edible!"

Sakura smiled and sat down next to Temari. Everyone served themselves some food and began to eat.

"What brought you to Suna?"

Gaara asked. Sakura grimaced.

"I would rather not talk about it now."

Sakura said, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Tell us, now."

Gaara said, pinning her down under his gaze.

"Do I have to?"

Sakura pleaded. Gaara didn't respond, he just kept gazing at her concerned. She gave in and told them the entire story. By the end Gaara looked like he was going to murder someone, Kankuro looked pissed and Temari was gripping the end of the table.

"I can't believe those bastards said that."

Temari said through gritted teeth. Sakura shrugged.

"Maybe they're right though."

"Don't even start to think that."

Gaara said sternly. Kankuro nodded his head, agreeing.

"You're one of the strongest kunoichi's that I've ever seen. How many ninja are the head medic of their village's hospital at the age of 16? Not many, I can tell you."

Sakura smiled.

"Yeah you're right."

"Of course we're right. But we're going to prove those stupid guys wrong."

Temari said.

"How?"

Sakura asked, curious.

"We're going to train you here in Suna; I know that you don't know your nature type yet. We can help you find it out and train you with that."

Sakura smiled.

"Thank you."

"No problem Sakura."

Gaara said, a slight smile on his face. Temari glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Wow, it's late. You should get to sleep Sakura-chan. You're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

Sakura said goodnight to Gaara and Kankuro and followed Temari to her room.

The next day

Sakura turned away from the light that was hitting her face. Realizing that she wasn't going to go back to sleep she got up and changed into her usual attire. She opened her door and came face to face with Temari who had her hand raised to knock on her door.

"Oh good you're awake. Well then let's go."

Temari walked down the hallway and Sakura followed her. They stopped at the kitchen quickly to grab some breakfast then went outside. They walked to an empty training ground. Temari walked to Sakura and handed her a piece of paper.

"Insert a bit of your chakra into here and it will show you what type of nature chakra you have."

Sakura inserted a bit of her chakra and the paper turned damp.

"Oh, looks like you're a wa-"

The paper then turned into dirt and fell from Sakura's hands.

"Alright then, seems like you can use earth and water jutsu. Let's get this training started then."

In Konoha

Team 7 had just gotten back from their retrieval mission, which was a success. Sasuke had come back with them, willingly. He had already killed the snake sannin and was heading back to Konoha with his team after realizing that there was no way that he could kill his brother at his current level. Walking through the gates, Naruto looked around in surprise. The entire village had an air of depression.

The normally cheerful people of Konoha were depressed. People quickly rushed to their destinations instead of staying to chat with each other. People were covering their mouths, as if to prevent germs from getting to them.

"What the heck happened?"

Naruto said in surprise. Sai shrugged and proceeded to the Hokage's office. Once they arrived there they heard Tsunade shouting at someone.

"Reschedule the sugery! There's no way that we can do the surgery today!"

"Hai, I'm sorry Tsunade-sama."

"I don't want your apologizes, just reschedule the surgery."

"Hai."

A stressed medic exited the office and quickly started to run to the hospital. Team 7 and Shizune tentatively entered the office. Tsunade took one look at Shizune who nodded and exited the room. Tsunade gave her attention to Kakashi.

"I take it that the mission was a success?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Uchiha Sasuke has successfully been brought back to Konoha."

"Good, mission report is due tomorrow. Leave my office, I have work to do."

"Tsunade-baa san, what's with Konoha?"

Tsunade glared at Naruto.

"I told you to stop calling me that. And to answer your question Konoha has gone into a state of depression."

Sasuke actually looked mildly interested. The last time he checked Konoha was a prospering village. It had the best medics in their entirety of the shinobi nations and had the best hospital since the appointment of their new head medic.

"What happened?"

He stated more than asked. Tsunade sighed.

_'I do not need this right now. I guess the faster I tell them, the faster they'll leave.'_

"Since Haruno Sakura left for a few months we have been severely short of medics. No one realized how much she had been doing in the hospital. Apparently she was doing the work of at least three medics. She was not only a medic for most of Konoha, she was also a therapist. Many people went to her for advice and just to talk to her about their problems. Now that she is gone, all the work that she took upon herself must be divided between the medics that are at the hospital."

"What happened to the head medic?"

Sasuke asked. Usually the head medic does the most work so a minor medic like Sakura shouldn't make such a huge impact.

"I forgot that you haven't been here in a while. Sakura is the new head medic, she was appointed a few months ago."

Sasuke stared at her in disbelief.

"She's the new head medic?"

Tsunade seemed to be amused at his surprise.

"Yes she is. After she surpassed me in medial skills she was the natural head medic. Why should I be the head medic when Sakura was better than I?"

"No way ugly was that good. If she was then we wouldn't have to protect her during missions."

Sai said, shaking his head. Kakashi nodded, agreeing with Sai.

"You must be exaggerating."

"Why would I exaggerate? Do you think that I would appoint someone who is not at least a better medic than Shizune to be the head medic?"

Kakashi immediately shook his head, sensing the dangerous tone to Tsunade's voice.

"No, no, nothing like that. We were simply stating that maybe your judgment was slightly clouded with the fact that she was your apprentice."

Gritting her teeth, Tsunade spoke.

"Sakura is a better medic than anyone in Konoha and probably better than any other medic in any other nation. There were only two reasons that you had to protect her during missions. One, she had to conserve her chakra for the large wounds that you got and therefore couldn't fight with her true potential. Two because you guys thought that she was weak so you protected her. You saw her as the weak genin that she no longer is, because of that; you got larger wounds than necessary for you took attacks for her causing her to need to conserve more of her chakra to heal you causing her lack in fighting skills."

Team 7 was dumbfounded by the fact that their little Sakura was no longer weak. It was their unseeing eyes that lead them to think that she was weak and they caused her to hold out during battles. Naruto shook his head.

"What about when we were sparring though? She could never keep up with us and there were no enemies there to injure us."

"She conserved her chakra to heal you because she knew that you would spar with Sai and you two would go too far and be seriously injured. Then your stupid pride would get in the way and you two wouldn't go to the hospital so she would be forced to heal you two. Do you see a trend forming here?"

"How would you know all this? How do we know that you're not just making this all up?"

Sasuke said, slightly suspicious.

"You're accusing me of lying to you? Fine, the reason that I know this is because Sakura is like my surrogate daughter to me and I'm her surrogate mother since both her mother and father were killed by rouge ninja last year. She tells me everything that's going on in her life."

Kakashi was about to say something but Tsunade cut him off.

"I'm getting tired of having to explain all this to you. You should have been able to see this with your own eyes and, if not, then you should have been able to ask Sakura. Dismissed."

She waved her hand at them and stared out the window. After hearing the door click shut she let out a loud groan of frustration.

"Of all the times for Shizune to hide my alcohol in a new place, and there's no Sakura to tell me where it is.."

Outside with Team 7

They exited the Hokage tower and proceeded to randomly walk down the street. Each person was lost in their own thoughts. They separated to go their usual ways. Naruto was walking down the street, no destination in mind. He was grabbed by the shoulder and roughly turned around to come face to face with none other than a glaring Hyūga Neji.

"Naruto."

"What do you want Neji?"

Neji didn't even grace him with an answer; he just punched him in the face. Naruto got knocked to the ground in surprise. Naruto stared up at him, furious. He walked up to Neji.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"I shouldn't even need to tell you, you should know."

"Well you should tell me because I don't have a as to what you are talking about."

"Sakura."

Naruto immediately tensed up at the mention of the medic.

"Oh Sakura."

"Yes, Sakura."

"What does Sakura matter to you?"

He asked, suspicious. Neji actually rolled his eyes at Naruto's suspicion.

"She spars with me every day as she is my perfect opposite. She deals mainly with Genjutsu, making my eyes useless and she uses medic jutsu to make her chakra points appear in different spots. She is also the only medic, besides the Hokage and Shizune-san, who I will let treat my wounds."

Naruto was going to respond but Neji kept talking, it was obvious that if he didn't get to say this now then he wasn't going to say it at all.

"Sakura left because of you, it's all your team's fault. If you had just acknowledged how strong she had grown all of this could have been avoided. That was all that she wanted from you, she told me that while we sparred often. I still can't believe that you thought that she was weak, she's second in Genjutsu only to Kurenai-san and she has far surpassed Tsunade in medical prowess but you couldn't get past the weak little genin from 3 years ago. You felt the need to protect her, sure she's a medic ninja and they need to be protected so that they can heal you afterwards, but not to the extent that your team is doing!"

Every single one of Neji's words cut into Naruto like a knife, he knew that it was all true. It was all their fault. He felt like he was going to start crying, something that he never did in public. Since he was a little kid he always kept his sorrow to himself, opting instead to smile. He stared at the ground, lost in his own thoughts.

The pearl eyed boy stepped back, he knew that he might have gone too far but it was the only way that would get through to him. He walked away, leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts. He knew that he wasn't going to be the only one to confront the infamous team 7 about the loss of the pinkette but he was glad that he was the first.

Neji was, of course, right. Throughout the entire day each member of team 7 was confronted by various people of the village. They eventually stopped and the entire village was quietly depressed, mourning the loss of the smiling medic, friend, apprentice, daughter, and sister.

Four months later

Sakura waved goodbye to the sand siblings. She really had needed the break from the hectic life of head medic and had truly enjoyed the time that she had spent with the siblings. She had grown much closer to the family and had promised to come back and visit much more often. Walking through the vast desert, she pulled up her hood. Her footsteps became quicker as eagerness took her over. She increased her speed and was halfway to Konoha by nightfall.

The next day she sprinted the entire way, her stamina having been increased by her training in Suna. Thinking back to the training she did a smile came to her face. Sure it had been tough but it had definitely been worth it.

Her arsenal of jutsu had been increased tremendously after she found out her nature type. Temari had introduced her to wearing weights and currently wore 40 pound weights on her arms and 50 pound weights on her legs. Sure it wasn't nearly as much as what Lee wore but he was just insane.

Her Taijutsu was now a combination of both Konoha and Suna Taijutsu, making it hard for enemies to find out what she was going to do next. She wasn't about to brag and say that she was strong enough to kill Uchiha Itachi, that was just insane, but she could give the Kazekage a run for his money. Of course, she just threatened him with Temari's cooking and he would forfeit but no one needed to know that.

She saw the familiar gates of Konoha when she jumped to get a look at her surroundings so she slowed her pace down. Once she reached a walk she jumped down from the tree branch that she was standing on and onto the ground. An unfamiliar chakra signature forced her to jump into the bushes. In front of her were two kumo ninja speaking to each other.

One was much taller than the other and had spiky white hair that covered one of his eyes. He wore a black shirt and black pants and the usual ninja shoes. Covering the bottom half of his face was a red scarf with white clouds on it. (No he is not part of the akatsuki) his hitate was on his arm.

His partner wore a dark green tunic like shirt and dark blue jonin pants. He wore his hitate like a bandanna; it was covering the top of his head. He had a large umbrella on his back and he seemed slightly annoyed with his partner.

"What are we here for? Did you seriously already forget, for the twelfth time today?"

"Shut up and just answer my question."

"We need the Uchiha. Raikage-sama needs to use him for bait."

"Bait as what?"

"To lure the Akatsuki out so that he can get revenge for taking Kirābī, rumor has it that they have been taking an interest to him lately."

Sakura didn't hear the other man's reply, she was too furious to listen anymore. She wasn't even sure why she was so mad at them for, it was only Sasuke, right? Who was she kidding? She still wasn't over him, even after all these years and listening to these men want to try and harm him pissed her off to no end. The fact that he was in Konoha didn't even register in her mind as she stopped concealing her chakra. The men felt the large spike of chakra and were immediately on guard.

"Who's there?"

The one with a scarf said. Sakura stepped out from the bushes as her hood fell down and the men began to chuckle.

"A pink haired ninja, how much can a pink haired ninja do?"

The shorter one said between laughs. Sakura began to perform hand signs as the two ninja were laughing.

"Doton: Retsudontenshō."

She slammed her hand to the ground and the ground around the two ninja began to spiral inwards, making the two ninja fall into it. Their screams were heard as they were crushed by the earth. Once Sakura was satisfied, she lifted her hand from the ground and the hole disappeared leaving only a scar in the earth.

Sakura looked at the two ninja on the ground. They were trapped in her genjutsu and thought that she was going to kill them. She formed a tiger seal with her right hand and crossed her left over it to form a cross. A kage bushin appeared and lifted one of the ninja onto its back as Sakura took the other one. She shifted the weight of the man on her shoulder and jogged to Konoha.

She arrived at the gate and found that no one was on duty so she simply walked in. Once she entered she almost slapped her head at her stupidity. Shaking her head she formed her hands in the correct sign.

_'Mizu-shunshin'_

She disappeared in a swirl of water and reappeared in Tsunade's office. The blonde woman looked up from her 'paperwork', it was really just a piece of paper with some meaningless writing on it, ready to scream at whoever had the nerve to just pop into her office like that. The words became stuck in her mouth as she saw two Sakura's standing in front of her. One of the Sakura's put a ninja on the ground and promptly poofed away as the other Sakura shifted uncomfortably under the Hokage's gaze.

"Um, Tsunade-shishou, could you not stare at me like that?"

"Sakura you're back!"

Tsunade yelled and scooped Sakura into a bone crushing hug. Finding that she weighed more than she last remembered she put her down, not expecting her to weigh that much.

"Did you gain some weight or something? Not that I think you're fat or anything, you just seem heavier than last time I saw you."

"I have some weights on so that might be what you're thinking about."

"SHIZUNE!!"

The black haired woman ran into the room.

"What is it Tsuna- SAKURA-CHAN!!!!"

The woman glomped Sakura who fell to the ground, not expecting such an enthusiastic reaction.

"I missed you so much!!"

"I missed you too Shizune-chan."

Shizune looked Sakura over but she couldn't really examine her for her cloak was in the way.

"Ne Sakura-chan, take off that cloak, you're not in Suna anymore."

"You're right."

She took off the cloak and Shizune took in her appearance. She had kept her hair short, to her shoulders. She had the dress that she wore as a genin but it was open, acting more like a jacket than a dress. Underneath it she wore a black top that would have showed a little bit of her stomach but it was covered by a fishnet top. She had her medic skirt and biker shorts with her ninja shoes that went up to her knees. Her arms were wrapped in bandages, covering her weights.

Tsunade smiled.

"So, what did you do in Suna?"

Sakura told her everything that she did. She trained with the siblings and did various missions as well as working at the hospital. She had taken the jōnin exams and passed, making her a jōnin. The only reason that she hadn't taken the exams in Konoha was because she never had enough time. After she was done telling her story, she looked out the window and looked longing at the hospital. Tsunade followed her gaze and smiled.

"I was going to give you the day off but apparently you want to go and work so go ahead. The other medics will be so relieved that you're back; we've been slightly short on medics lately."

Sakura stood up and bowed to Tsunade.

"See you Tsunade-shishou!"

She disappeared in a swirl of water. Tsunade growled at her as she disappeared.

"I'm not your shishou anymore!"

Sakura's laughter was heard throughout the room, Tsunade and Shizune smiled.

"It's good to have you back Sakura. I don't know how long it's been since I've smiled like this."

Tsunade said. Shizune walked into Tsunade's library, that she never used, and came back with a bottle of sake and two cups.

"We might as well celebrate."

Tsunade stared at her in shock.

"You're going to give me sake?! Who are you and what have you done with Shizune?"

Shizune laughed and Tsunade's smile grew bigger.

"Well I'm not complaining, bring on the sake!"

_'Library, check. Now I have a whole list of where Shizune might hide my sake.'_

At the hospital

Sakura appeared in front of her office door and smiled at her name.

_'It's good to be back.'_

She walked into her office but she didn't have time to sit down and relax. Her door flew open and all the medics flooded into her office.

"Sakura-sama! You're back, thank god!"

They surrounded Sakura, cheering. Sakura smiled.

"Well, thanks for the welcoming back but if you're all here then who's taking care of the patients?"

The medics looked sheepish and slowly exited her office. One of the medics, Hitomi, stayed behind. Sakura had always been slightly envious of Hitomi's eyes, they were the most beautiful shade of teal, which was probably the reason of her namesake. Hitomi meant pupil implying that she had beautiful eyes.

Hitomi approached Sakura.

"We have a patient that would like to see you, he's in room 234."

"Alright, thank you."

Hitomi left and Sakura took one last look at her office before she left. She quickly proceeded to the door and entered the room. Ino looked at her in surprise before she jumped from the bed that she was in and hugged Sakura.

"Forehead girl!"

"Ino-pig, why are you in the hospital?"

"I just got back from a mission and I got injured by a shinobi with a katana. The stupid medics told me to just take it easy in this bed for a few days and it's so boring! Now that you're back, you can heal me and I can go!"

Sakura laughed at Ino's pleading eyes.

"Alright alright, hold still and I'll see what I can do."

Ino laid down on the bed and Sakura put her hands over her stomach as they started to glow green. Her chakra explored Ino's body and found a large slash on her stomach.

"You have an injury on your stomach but it isn't deep so I should be able to heal it easily enough. You should be able to go home once I'm done."

She started to repair the skin and heal the organs that got injured by the katana. After a few minutes Sakura stepped back and Ino stood up, good as new.

"Thanks forehead!"

They both laughed at the old nickname and Ino wiped tears away from her eyes.

"I haven't laughed in ages, I'm so glad that you're back Sakura-chan."

Sakura was surprised that Ino called her by name and grew concerned. Just what had happened to Konoha since she left?

"What happened?"

"You should see for yourself, go outside and walk around Konoha. I have to go back to the flower shop but you better come by and talk to me later!"

"Alright, I will."

"Bye forehead."

"See you Ino-pig."

Sakura signed a paper and handed it to Ino before she left so that the receptionist would let her leave the hospital. She then walked to the lobby of the hospital and exited the hospital and walked through the streets of Konoha.

She looked around and was surprised to see that there was almost no one on the streets and anyone that was on the streets was quickly heading towards their destination. She looked around in dismay as she saw that Konoha had a gloomy atmosphere around it. She looked over to a bulletin board and saw a half hearted flyer on it.

_'The tanabata festival is tomorrow but I don't see any kind of preparations for it. I remember last year, there were so many preparations that this part of Konoha was closed for a few days from the constant traffic.'_

Sakura walked back to the hospital and entered her office, sinking into her chair. Feeling slightly depressed from the gloomy atmosphere around Konoha she thought about what she could do. An idea struck her.

_'I'm going to need help with this though, there's no way that I can do this by myself..who can I ask..?'_

She thought for a second then exited her office, heading for the Hokage tower. She jumped up to the window of the office and let herself in. Tsunade was going to yell at her but Sakura told both Shizune and her about her plan and she immediately forgot about yelling at her and started to get to work. Sakura jumped out the window and headed to the Yamanaka flower shop. She told Ino of her plan and the girl started to run around the flower shop, gathering the flowers that would be needed for Sakura's plan.

Sakura ran around Konoha, getting things that she would need for her plan to be perfectly executed. She somehow managed not to run into any of her friends in the process. At the end of the day she collapsed onto her bed, exhausted.

The next day

Sakura woke up and headed toward the eastern section of Konoha, where the festivals were held. She began to work on her plan as Tsunade, Shizune, and Ino helped her. They hung up various decorations, placed various flower arrangements and made different stalls. They worked until it was night fall, when they finally finished. They stepped back and admired their work then went to their houses to change.

Across Konoha

Everyone found a letter on their doorstep.

_Dear Konoha citizen,_

_Under my orders you are to go to the tanabata festival or you will be punishable by law. Please do not show up before 6:00 PM as preparations will be being made. Thank you for your cooperation and yes, I will know if you are not at the festival so don't even think about skipping._

_The hokage_

5:57 PM

People began to show up at the festival and looked around in awe. They had made no preparations for the festival and had expected there not to be a festival or for there to be a half hearted festival. Instead they found an amazing master piece. There were various decorations such as paper kimonos, paper strips, paper cranes, purses, nets, and streamers. Stalls lined the streets, inviting people in. The traditional wish writing stall along with other, more original stalls, lined the street. Signs beckoned them toward a stage and everyone gathered there.

At 6:00 there were some small fireworks that made people clap. Once the mini fireworks were done Sakura appeared on the stage and cleared her throat.

"Hello Konoha. I know that this is a shock to you, I have taken a leave of absence for four months but when I came back I was met with this gloomy atmosphere. There weren't even any preparations for the tanabata festival, the most popular festival in Konoha. I always loved the tanabata festivals every year, many people do. So what better way to cheer people up than by having this festival? To open this festival I'll sing the traditional song.

_Sasa no ha sara-sara_

_Nokiba ni yureru_

_Ohoshi-sama kira-kira_

_Kin gin sunago_

_The bamboo leaves rustle, rustle,_

_Shaking away in the eaves._

_The stars go twinkle, twinkle;_

_Gold and silver grains of sand._

Enjoy the tanabata festival everyone!"

Everyone clapped, getting over their initial shock. Sakura smiled at the entirety of Konoha.

_'That's much better, this is the Konoha that I know and love.'_

Sakura felt someone shaking her and she turned around to face her team. She stiffened slightly then relaxed.

"Hey guys."

"Hello Sakura."

They replied in unison. Sakura looked at them, puzzled.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm so sorry Sakura-chan! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

Naruto blurted. Sakura shook her head.

"Don't worry about that, I thought about it in Suna and I came to a conclusion. Life is too short to hold grudges so I let it go, sure it took me four months to let go of it but I finally did. Let's just go and have some fun together, as a team."

She grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's hands and dragged them to a stall with Sai and Kakashi following closely behind them. Hours later they were still having fun but Sakura and Sasuke had lost the rest of their team.

"We should try and find where they are."

Sakura said. Sasuke grabbed her hand.

"No."

Sakura rolled her eyes, ignoring her rising heartbeat.

"You're monosyllable answers are getting on my nerves you know."

"...Sorry…"

Sasuke said so quietly that Sakura almost couldn't hear him. She knew that he was apologizing for more than his monosyllable answers.

"It's alright, what's in the past is in the past. No use reminiscing over it so let's stay in the present and make the best of it."

Sakura said as she dragged him to yet another stall. Sasuke pulled his hand back without letting go of Sakura, making her hit his chest.

"Ow, what was that for Sasuke?"

She asked, looking up. Sakura became aware of how little space there was between them. She tilted her head up to look into Sasuke's eyes. They were smoldering, she couldn't tear her own eyes away from his and she didn't want to.

'_Was he always this tall?'_

"Saku-"

Screams stopped him from finishing his sentence and she and Sasuke were immediately on guard. They looked around and saw that there were kumo ninja running through the crowd. Sakura ran to an injured civilian and healed his wounds then urged him to go home.

Sasuke was behind her, fighting a kumo nin and Sakura was drawn away from him by another kumo nin attacking an innocent civilian. She grabbed a kunai from her pocket and engaged the shinobi in combat. She quickly killed the shinobi and healed the civilian who ran in the direction of her house once Sakura was done. She straightened up and scanned the crowd, trying to find out what was happening. She saw various ninja in combat but it gave no clue as to what their plan was. She headed towards to nearest kumo nin , cast a Genjutsu, and interrogated him.

"What the hell do you guys want?"

"Like I'd tell you that."

"You don't have to tell me willingly or even consciously, there are other ways of finding out."

She said while going through hand signs, she placed her hand on his head.

_'__Jigyaku no Jutsu'_

"Now, what are you doing here?"

"We need the Uchiha, it doesn't matter if he's dead or alive, we just need to bring him back to Kumogakure."

"Is that all?"

"We were also informed that if we could not get the Uchiha then we needed to bring a pink haired medic with us."

"Why?"

"She is the apprentice of the Hokage, a valuable bargaining chip and probably not that strong. She would probably be a pampered apprentice; she wouldn't put up much of a struggle."

"This seems like a whole lot of effort for just two people, what else do you want?"

The shinobi seemed to try and struggle against the Genjutsu but failed.

"We were also ordered to take the forbidden scroll from the Hokage tower, this is just a diversion."

Sakura didn't say anything and knocked the man unconscious. She stood up and scanned the crowd for Tsunade and Shizune. When she couldn't find them she bit her thumb and flashed through some hand seals. She slammed her hand on the ground and in a poof of smoke, a little wolf appeared.

"What can I do for you Sakura-sama?"

"Asami, go and find the Hokage and tell her to get to her office to protect the scroll!"

"Roger!"

The wolf ran off and Sakura looked around to try and find Sasuke. She saw the familiar dark haired shinobi fighting four enemy ninja. She ran behind one and gathered chakra to her hand. She thrust her hand forward and hit the shinobi's chest.

'_Shōsen: Kai'_

Her chakra went to the shinobi's vital organs and ruptured them. He fell down to the ground dead and Sakura turned to a shinobi that was coming up behind her. She gathered more chakra to her hand and punched him, sending him flying into a tree. Turning around she saw that they were surrounded with a multitude of kumo nin. One of the ninja smirked.

"Looks like we found two of our three objectives at once. How lucky, if you would be so kind as to cooperate, we need to come with us."

Sasuke glared at the ninja.

"As if we would come with you."

The shinobi sighed.

"Well, looks like we have to do this the hard way then."

He lifted his hand and held it as if he was going to wave to someone. He turned if sideways and the shinobi grabbed their weapons and started to attack Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura shook her head and punched the ground, making a huge wave hit the shinobi in front of her. Sasuke started to do hand signs.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"

Fire balls flew toward the ninja, incinerating them. Still more shinobi ran towards them and Sakura grew nervous.

'_There are too many of them, at this rate we'll run out of chakra.'_

Sakura didn't notice how far away from Sasuke she had drifted. Looking around she found that she couldn't see Sasuke anywhere and felt uneasy. Sure she had improved, but she couldn't take on over twenty shinobi all by herself!

She calmed herself, panicking would lead to her certain death. She took a deep breath and sank into her signature taijutsu stance. Her legs were bent, almost to the point of kneeling. Her hands were half raised, no higher than her stomach. Her entire body was relaxed, as if she were about to take a nap.

The shinobi looked at her dubiously, her stance was the oddest that they had ever seen. It would allow her no power behind her blows and her movement would be restrained. Reflexes would also be affected, by not having her muscles prepared, they would take longer to move and dodge a blow. They brushed their thoughts aside, it wasn't their problem that she had horrible taijutsu; it just made it much easier for them to take her. They charged at her, raising their weapons to deal a fatal blow.

Sakura waited until they were close to her before she fluidly dodged the oncoming kunai stabs and ninjatō slashes. She didn't try and strike them she only dodged. Her movements resembled flowing sand, smooth and almost liquid like.

The pinkette was maneuvering them in the general direction of where she thought Sasuke was. She got nicked here and there but they weren't substantial wounds and could be easily treated later. Unable to find Sasuke with her limited movements she gave up. A kunai came dangerously close to her jugular and she decided that she was done with dodging.

The next stab came from the left and Sakura jumped over the shinobi, twisting her body as she did so. Once she was above him, she reached down with her hands and grabbed his head, twisting her hands once her hands made contact with his head. The shinobi was surprised at her actions and twisted to the ground, dead, his neck being broken from the force of Sakura's attack. She landed in a crouched position and grabbed the outstretched foot of a nin that was trying to kick her.

Reaching out her other foot, she tripped him, making him land on his back. She stood up and spun around quickly to gain momentum then released him into the throng of shinobi, taking out many as she did so. Realization finally dawned on a few of the kumo nin. This was the shinobi that had combined aspects from both Suna's 砂の流れ (Flowing sand) fighting style and Konoha's 葉のねじれ (Twisting leaf) fighting style.

Flowing sand was a style of fighting in which the user would bend deeply in their knees and relax their muscles so that they could use the least possible energy to dodge attacks. Since the muscles were so relaxed, the movements would resemble sand flowing through an hourglass, hence the name. The hits themselves were lightning fast, using little strength and mainly depended on punches. It was impractical for the user to use their legs since they were bending down so much.

Twisting leaf was one of the more extravagant styles of fighting. It mainly consisted of the user flipping around to dodge attacks, occasionally twisting one's body to throw kunai or shuriken. Attacks were usually elaborate flips over the enemy. The most commonly seen attack one being the user doing a front flip and using their legs to wrap around the enemy and flip them over the user and slam them into the ground.

Sakura's style was a combination of both. She used the basic stance of flowing sand, relaxing her muscles so that she could more easily dodge. Unable to master the lightning fast punches, she instead combined it with the eccentric flip attacks of twisting leaf to which she also added the closed fist technique that Tsunade taught her giving her attacks immense strength.

Yes, she had flaws in her style, the flips made her vulnerable whilst in mid air, and the relaxed stance also meant that her reflexes were slowed somewhat. Her style though, confused people, they were unable to find a pattern in her attacks because, there was none. She went for whatever opening that she saw.

Turning back to the other shinobi, a flash of navy blue caught her eye. Turning around, she saw Sasuke's spiky hair at the end of the pathway that she had created. Ignoring the other shinobi, she wheeled around and sprinted towards him. She finally reached him and looked on in horror. He was fending off five kumo nin, corpses were littered on the ground, there had to be at least thirty. Behind him was another nin raising his ninjatō to stab him in the back, a fatal wound.

'_No!'_

"Sasuke move!"

She yelled, knowing that he would be able to do nothing. He turned around, disposing of the other ninja, and his eyes widened minutely in silent horror at the oncoming ninjatō.

Sakura moved without thinking. She ripped off the weights as she ran towards Sasuke and the enemy nin, greatly increasing her speed. Pushing Sasuke out of the way, she let herself get stabbed in his stead.

"Sakura!"

Forcing herself not to look towards her dark haired teammate, she gathered every ounce of chakra that she had and focused it all to her leg. She could feel the muscles in her leg being torn from the high concentration of chakra. It was so highly concentrated that one could see the blue chakra emitting from her leg. Gritting her teeth she took the ninjatō out from her chest, ignoring the blood that was now gushing from her large wound. She raised her head as high as it would go and then slammed it to the ground yelling.

"Tsūtenkyaku!"

The ground around Sakura fell, creating a large crater, killing all the kumo nin due to their closeness. The crater had a radius of thirty yards, encompassing several trees and stalls with earth.

Sasuke had jumped away when he saw Sakura bringing her leg to the ground and he now desperately searched for her. He caught a glimpse of her vibrant pink hair in the center of the circle, slipping farther away from him. He jumped into the rubble and pulled her out. He carried her away from the crater and set her down, cradling her head in his lap. Staring at her, he began to feel tears come to his eyes. He let them fall, not caring enough about them to wipe them away.

He heard voices in the distance and they were sounding closer every second. In a few moments he could discern Naruto's loud voice from all the others.

"Sasuke-teme!"

Sasuke couldn't tear his eyes away from Sakura's lifeless form. Naruto was going to hound him with questions but stopped at the sight of Sakura.

"No…Sakura-chan…."

"It's my fault, she was protecting me. A kumo nin snuck behind me while I was fighting some other shinobi and was going to kill me. Sakura stupidly pushed me out of the way and took the hit for me. Stupid Sakura, why did you have to do something so stupid and….and….reckless?!"

Sasuke yelled, tears falling freely from his face. Naruto looked at his friend sadly, mourning the loss of his favorite pinkette.

"Move! Out of my way! Move it!"

Tsunade yelled, pushing her way to where Sasuke and Sakura were. She looked at Sakura devastated and checked for a pulse, merely out of habit, knowing that she wouldn't find anything. Her eyes widened and she began barking out orders while pouring healing chakra into Sakura's system.

"You, Hatake! Get me something that I can brace her leg with! Hyūga, help Hatake. Yamanaka, start healing her more minor injuries, I know Sakura was helping you with your medical jutsu. SHIZUNE!"

Everyone immediately carried out Tsunade's orders knowing what she had found. She had found a pulse meaning Sakura was alive. Shizune rushed towards Tsunade and, together, they healed Sakura's wounds. Kakashi came back with Neji, having found a straight piece of wood that they could use as a brace. Ino healed her wounds as fast as she could as Shizune held Sakura's leg still while Tsunade wrapped Sakura's leg to the plank. Once that was accomplished she carefully picked Sakura up, holding her as level as possible and rushed to the hospital, Shizune trailing after her.

* * *

The rookie nine along with Team Gai and some other assorted Jōnin sat on some benches outside the ER room, waiting anxiously for the light to go off. Hinata, Ino and, Tenten were crying and their sensei's were hugging them, absentmindedly rubbing their backs. Sasuke was staring at the wall, worry and guilt actually evident on his face, showing how stressed he was.

'_It's my fault. If I had been more aware of my surroundings then this would never have happened. I never even got to tell her what I wanted to say.'_

Sasuke thought to himself, completely ignoring the fact that, even if he was completely aware of his surroundings, he wouldn't have been able to do anything. Naruto glanced at his friend and gave him a reassuring shoulder pat which was thanked with a light punch on his shoulder.

The light went off and Tsunade and Shizune stepped out, exhausted. They were swarmed by the ninja, who were staring at them expectantly. Tsunade gave them a weak smile.

"She's stable and is going to pull through though she's unconscious. The ninjatō barely missed her heart and nicked her aorta causing internal hemorrhage which, in turn, caused desanguination. She also got stabbed in the lung, impairing her breathing. We gave her some blood transfusions and healed the most extensive of the damage. She still has some injuries but none of them are life threatening. You can go and see her if you want, she's in room 318."

All the shinobi headed towards Sakura's room and Tsunade walked to her office to fill out paperwork and get this whole mess sorted out.

* * *

'_It hurts….death shouldn't hurt this much….'_

She felt like she had some kind of pressure over her body, making her unable to move.

"_Sakura-chan!"_

"_Forehead!"_

"_Sakura."_

'_Naruto, Ino, Sasuke? What are you guys doing dead?'_

It finally struck her that she had not, in fact, died. She was very much alive, if the pain was anything to go by. She felt as if the voices that were desperately speaking to her were miles away. Trying to lift her hand up to console them, she found that it took too much energy, energy that she didn't have.

"_Sakura, wake up, please. I can't stand this."_

She could hear Sasuke's voice pleading her to wake up and yet she couldn't do anything about it, the pressure was too great.

'_No, I will do something about it. I'm not the weak little genin from three years ago, I'm a fully capable Jōnin kunoichi and I'll be damned if this stupid pressure stops me from getting to them….to him.'_

She mustered all the strength and pushed against the unseen pressure. Slowly, it lifted and the voices sounded close. Encouraged, she pushed harder and the pressure disappeared. Sakura felt like she was rising, as if she was less dense than everything around her. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a white hospital ceiling.

"Sakura!"

Sasuke yelled in relief. The others brightened in relief. Sakura felt herself being scooped into a gentle hug and was surprised by who was doing it.

"…Sasuke?"

He stayed silent and all the kunoichi in the room got the hint. They ushered the dense shinobi out of the room, giving the two their privacy. Sakura looked at Sasuke questioningly, he held her shoulders and looked at her.

"I thought I had lost you."

He hugged her, surprising Sakura yet again.

"Don't ever do that again."

Sakura smiled.

"So you do care like me?"

Sasuke let go of her and Sakura sat back on the pillows.

"Me, like the most annoying, stubborn, loud, hot tempered, erratic-"

Sakura winced at the harsh words that Sasuke was saying.

"-beautiful, kind, thoughtful, talented, amazing, hyper kunoichi in Konoha?"

She was unable to respond, taken aback by his sudden change in adjectives. Sasuke stared at her, having been slowly leaning forward the entire time that he was talking.

"No."

Tears formed at her eyes, she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up.

"Sas-"

"I don't like her at all. I LOVE her."

He leaned forward and captured her lips in the most gentle and sweet kiss that Sakura had ever had. Their lips separated and Sakura was shocked. She didn't think that he liked her, let alone loved her. She threw her arms around him, ignoring the pain that it caused.

"I love you too."

Sasuke felt a strange sensation in his heart. He was puzzled before he realized what it was, it was happiness. It was the first time that he was happy in a long time. He hugged her back and kissed her again, more passionately and Sakura returned the kiss. Tsunade came in, everyone trailing behind her.

"All right I just have to- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY APPRENTICE UCHIHA?!"

She yelled, causing a huge commotion in the room. Sakura looked at the entire scene fondly and smiled. Sure they were a dysfunctional family but, this was her dysfunctional family, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Tsūtenkyaku (Painful sky leg): This jutsu is simply a falling axe kick to the ground. C-rank, Offensive, Short range (0-5m)

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique): This jutsu sends multiple balls of fire at a target. It is also possible to hide shurikens within the fireballs, creating an unexpected secondary surprise attack. C-rank, Offensive, Short range (0-5m)

Shōsen: Kai (Chakra Scalpel: Discharge): After charging medical chakra into his/her hands, the user palm-thrusts the enemy and discharges the chakra, capable of incapacitating, blowing them away or causing internal damage to an enemy. Offensive, Defensive, Short range (0-5m)

Jigyaku no Jutsu (Time Reversal Technique): This technique puts the target in a state of reverse hypnosis, allowing them to remember details that they otherwise would not. The target will comply with interrogation. Supplementary, Short range (0-5m)

Mizu-shunshin (Water Body Flicker): This jutsu is a high-speed movement technique, allowing a ninja to move short-long distances at an almost untraceable speed. To an observer, it appears as if the user has teleported. It is accomplished by using chakra to temporarily boost the user's reflexes. The amount of chakra required depends on the overall distance between the user and their intended destination. The Body Flicker Technique has various variations among the different hidden villages, all of which involve some extra element aside from the movement itself. The extra element is usually some sort of substance used to distract the opponent, such as leaves or sand. D-rank, Supplementary

Doton: Retsudontenshō (Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm) : This technique causes the ground surrounding the enemy to spiral inwards on itself, burying them alive or crushing them. C-rank, Offensive, All ranges.

* * *

Tanabata festival: Japanese and Chinese star festival. The name means 'evening of the seventh'. It is usually held on either the seventh of July or August. It celebrates meeting of Orihime and Hikoboshi. The Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year

Ninjatō (Ninjaken or Shinobi katana): The most common name for the reputed sword a ninja would have carried and come in various sizes and shapes. They are often, much shorter than the traditional daito _katana_.

Desanguination: Medical term for a massive loss of blood.

Hemorrhage: Loss of blood from the circulatory system.

Thank you to Wikipedia for the definitions and information.

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A/N: Woo! First one-shot done! I wasn't planning on making it so big, this baby is a whopping 11,000 words! Again, I would like to dedicate this to XxMidnightMusicxX for her help with my other story. Please review and tell me what you think, this is my first one-shot and I would like to know how I can improve it. If I ever write a one-shot again, I am not going to make it this long. Please vote on the poll on my profile, I would appreciate it. If I forgot to translate anything or if you have a question then please ask me. Please review! Ja ne!

High Summoner Sakura


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